NORTH KOREA SUSPECTED IN RECORD 6.3 BILLION DOLLAR BINANCE CRYPTO THEFT
Blockchain analysis firms have attributed the largest cryptocurrency theft on record to a North Korean hacking unit known as TraderTraitor. Roughly 6.3 billion dollars moved out of Binance wallets across ten blockchains in about 20 minutes late on October 29.
TRM Labs stated it reached the attribution with high confidence based on on-chain and off-chain intelligence. The firm noted that features of the attack match earlier North Korea-linked heists, including the 1.5 billion dollar Bybit theft the FBI previously tied to the same group. Chainalysis and Elliptic reached similar conclusions after observing stolen funds commingling with proceeds from a recent Bitget exploit also linked to North Korean actors.
Binance confirmed the security incident and estimated the total impact at around 6.3 billion dollars. In an official statement the exchange said its initial investigation pointed to a compromised DevOps engineer’s laptop that allowed unauthorized withdrawal transactions. It found no evidence of any wallet private key leak. Binance stated it will cover all losses from its SAFU fund and company reserves. User funds are safe. Partners have frozen about 3 billion dollars in affected assets so far. Withdrawals remain suspended while the company works with law enforcement.
Co-CEO Richard Teng said the attack was more complex than a single compromised laptop and that the investigation has not attributed responsibility to any individual. Binance has reserved more than 6.34 billion dollars of its own funds to make users whole, with a substantial portion already held in the exact assets that were taken.
The theft is roughly four times the size of the previous record crypto hack. North Korea has long used state-linked cyber units for financial theft, according to U.S. and South Korean authorities and private analysts. No government has issued a formal public attribution as of this morning